Samaritan (Vintage)

Rating:
Summary: A view of a world not often seen...
Review: A great book? No. Parts are compelling. Price writes with a great ear for dialogue and an uncanny ability to portray life in the inner-city. The story is solid and has some interesting twists. It is about men finding themselves and some women too. Ray is hard character to love as you sometimes want to shake some sense in to him. The ending is a bit pat and cliched, but still a well written look at a world most of us never see.

Rating:
Summary: Not on par with Clockers, Freedomland
Review: Having read the first two books in the Dempsey, N.J., "trilogy" by Price, I was expecting another great read. Samaritan wasn't quite up to par. Why? While the writing was (as usual) great, in retrospect part of what turned me off was that the main character (Ray) was too politically correct in his over-infatuation with the underclass--in this case the many black characters who populated the novel in a somewhat stereotyped way. Look, I'm white and all for racial quality/harmony. But the protagonist Ray was a little too much a bleeding heart. He came off as grinding and unbelievably naive. Actually, very condescending to all the other characters who were black. Maybe that was the book's point! Maybe that's why I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first two. At least in those, all the characters--regardless of race--were treated as equal players.

Rating:
Summary: Sparkling dialogue, Interesting Characters, So-So Plot
Review: I have to give Richard Price credit for creating realistic characters with dialogue that crackles and feels painfully real coming from this group of broken people. However by the time I finished I was left wanting more. The mystery surrounding who beat one time television writer and now teacher Ray Mitchell to death left me a bit cold. And when the person is revealed I can't even say I was surprised, but worse I didn't really care. I loved the book at the start and was expecting to tap into something I'd be telling eveyone to go out and buy. Again I thought the writing was great, I just didn't completely connect with this group of people, and so ultimately didn't connect with the book.

Rating:
Summary: Boring and unbelievable plot
Review: I hoped this book would be interesting and enjoyable, but I soon noticed a quite annoying device: the author found it necessary to end declarative sentences with a question mark, as if there was an unsaid "you know?" Yes, I know people often speak that way in conversation, but I would have enjoyed the dialogue a lot more if correct punctuation had been used.

Also the victim was brain-damaged due to a blow to the head and suffered a number of other injuries, his doctors kept entering the room to give various neurological tests---yet he was able to speak quite lucidly, and a great length, to the police officer, who seemed to have unlimited access to this patient in intensive care.

The young teenaged daughter's portrayal, through Dad's eyes, was not in the least believable: uncommunicative, yet precocious; budding woman, yet childlike; you get the picture. And what father in his right mind would take her to a high-crime housing project at night, sit her down in a deserted playground amid mounds of snow, and start telling her stories of his youth?

Maybe these observations are petty? Others might disagree with me? It may have been a better book with more editing? I'll try some of the author's other books, but I was definitely not impressed with this one---after reading about half of it, I gave up and didn't really care who attacked him.

Rating:
Summary: The motives of a do-gooder
Review: I read The Wanderers, Richard Price's first novel, when I was a teenager and have read every one of his subsequent (seven including the present one) books. Although I've liked some better than others, they've all kept me thoroughly entertained and intrigued with the gritty street life Price so expertly evokes. Samaritan, like his last two novels, takes place in Dempsey, the fictional but believable small New Jersey city only a tunnel ride away from Manhattan. Samaritan is a combination mystery and psychological study. The title refers to Ray Mitchell, a man in his forties who abandons a writing career in Los Angeles to return to his hometown of Dempsey to teach. Ray is at loose ends. A recovering drug addict, he is estranged from his ex-wife and Ruby, his teenaged daughter and has no concrete plans for the future. He hopes that by returning to the home of his youth and helping some young people he will find direction. It is his need to help and be appreciated that is his downfall. For Ray is not the kind of "samaritan" who only gives help when it is truly needed; he is the kind who desperately needs to feel appreciated and will do practically anything to meet this need. The story is told partly in the present, after Ray has been assaulted and nearly killed, and partly in flashback as the events leading up to the assault are revealed. A childhood neighbor of Ray's, Nerese Ammons, is the policewoman who tries to figure out who attacked Ray and why. The problem is, Ray won't tell her and she (and the reader) cannot understand why. Nerese, a black woman who is about to retire from the police force, has problems of her own; she is a single mother with a family that includes criminals and drug abusers. In describing all this, I realize that a lot of it may sound familiar, even cliched (e.g. the cop about to retire), but Price has an unusual talent for transforming such material into a compelling story. His knack for dialogue, especially that of the city streets, is unsurpassed. Some popular writers write dialogue that sounds like writing; with Price, you can always *hear* the words and inflections. Samaritan is also helped by several interesting supporting characters, such as Salim, a troubled youth who Ray may be harming more than helping, and Tom Potenza, an ex-addict who counsels people around the projects. Race is a major factor throughout the novel, especially the question of what motivates a white man like Ray in his quest to "save" people who are mostly black. If Samaritan were presented as some kind of lesson in ethics or race relations, it would be simplistic and heavy-handed, but it isn't really that. Ray is a complex character whose motives are not entirely noble, but he is not a mere hypocrite. The novel explores the fine line that divides helping people for genuine as opposed to selfish reasons. Samaritan, like its main character, has its flaws and it's not my favorite Richard Price novel, but it is still an enjoyable and thought provoking tale.

Rating:
Summary: add this to the Men's Lit class
Review: Price's earlier strong work made the appearance of "Samaritan" the occasion of some anticipation, but for me the novel failed to deliver the expected punch.

The premise is sound: a product of the New Jersey projects with a checkered past unexpectedly achieves success as a writer in LA, but returns to his old haunts, mostly to try to reconnect with is daughter, from whom he has been physically separated since his divorce.

The novel, however, pivots on a vicious attack on the writer, Nick, who refuses to reveal the nature of the assault to a black female detective --nicknamed Tweetie -- who, remarkably, lived in the projects at the same time. In fact, Nick witnessed, and even participated in, a humiliation of a young Tweetie.

Well, Ok, quite a coincidence, but maybe we're still willing to go along, except that Price introduces yet another character from Nick's past in a chance meeting that ultimately leads to the attack that Tweetie winds up investigating.

Too much authorial meddling for me, but Price can write well, so I might be willing to go along. However, he compounds problems by insisting that his main character is an inveterate storyteller. And oh, how this character tells stories. In fact, that's about all he does, in endless forays into the past that seem merely to serve as an excuse for Price to wax eloquently through his characters. Well, other readers might have enjoyed the liberties Price takes, but for this reader, a series of speeches by the characters and long narrative expositions of what happened years ago is a prescription for a stagnant narrative, no matter now masterful the writer.

In fact, I give three stars only on the strength of the prose. Unlike novels I best admire, which gain strength as they progress, "Samaritan" tired as it reached the finish line, leaving me both exhausted and relieved that the ordeal was over.

Rating:
Summary: The slums of Dempsey, N.J.
Review: Ray Mitchell grew up in the housing projects of Dempsey, N.J., went to LA to become a successful TV writer, and now returned to Dempsey with enough money to allow himself a few quirks. Mainly, re wants to reconnect with his 13-year old daughter Ruby.

Nerese Ammons, a black detective within months of retirement, knows Ray from childhood and remembers him as being on her side when the other school children gave her grief.

Ray wants to do good so that people will love him. But he does not know how to do it without coming across like the Salvation Army. He gets lied to, he gets ripped off, he just simply cannot connect because he forgot about the slums and no longer speaks their language.

And then Ray is brutally beaten up. Nerese takes over the investigation, because she owes him from way back. But Ray won't tell her who did it. and she has to detect the hard way.

By now this book should be a mystery. But it refuses to. It is the story of the people living in the project, their hopes and aspirations. They will not make it out of that slum, and they know it. But still they keep trying. They act like mafia godfathers hoping the image will put them on a higher level. The children visit prison and the criminals become superman. Yet at all times they have a clear understanding of their surroundings and the psychological facts of their diminished lives.

The author gives us an uncanny picture of people and locations but presents them almost like a stream of conscience. While it is fun to dig deeper here or there, the main attraction is in the swimming on the surface and let it all parade by.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Old Fashioned Story
Review: Somebody brained Ray Mitchel, nearly beat him to death, someone he knows, but when he wakes in the hospital, childhood friend, but now lady cop Nerese Ammons, wants to know who and why, but Ray isn't talking, he seems more afraid of the truth that catching someone who tried to kill him.

Ray, a successful writer, has recently returned to his childhood home of Dempsy. Since he's been back he's reunited with his estranged teenage daughter, started a romance with a woman from the projects and is teaching writing to bored high-school kids. However Ray is a needy soul and his judgment is usually pretty bad. He lends money to anyone, deserving or not, and his kind deeds all seem to backfire.

Nerese, a black tough-minded single mother and a good detective, is close to retirement, but is determined to crack this case, if only because Ray once did her a kind deed when they were both kids in the projects.

SAMARITAN is often somber, deals with serious emotions, is sometimes funny and Price certainly knows how to draw likeable, but flawed characters that are believable and easy to understand. And it's easy to understand why many think that Richard Price is simply one of the best writers writing today. I know that's my belief.

Jeremiah McCain

Rating:
Summary: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Review: This gritty, beautifully-written novel tells the tale of Ray, a soft touch whose generosity masks an urgent need to overcome his personal demons. An ex-teacher and ex-screenwriter, tormented by guilt over having let down his own family, he is a do-gooder who lets himself be talked into spending his dwindling resources on the needs (sometimes authentic and sometimes crackpot) of various residents of the inner-city housing project where he grew up, as well as those of a former student.
The book is written in two parallel narrative threads, one focusing on the events leading up to a brutal assault on Ray, and the other focusing on the post-assault investigation of the crime by an old friend who also grew up the housing project. The characters are not drawn in black and white (although interracial tensions are a constant undercurrent), but in finely evoked shades of gray.
The lesson (probably never to be learned by Ray) is that building up one's own self-esteem by overhelping those in need can lead to unintended consequences far beyond the immediate situation.
A wonderful, moving book, peopled with characters you will never forget.

Rating:
Summary: Samaritan?
Review: Ya' know, if it were me I'd just say who did it and be done with it already. Then if it were me there'd be no story. This is why we have people like Richard Price to engage people like me in a story like this.

I sincerely don't understand the thing with white-guilt. I'm black. As I'm reading this novel I'm opening myself to understand. I find myself getting involved with the characters and seeing how "accurate" the black ones are. However, I'm not surprised because I've also read CLOCKERS and I remember how impressed I was with the depiction of a young black character. Visions of LAW & ORDER are popping up in my head. I enjoy this TV drama. I'm hoping with all hope that this will be more than just an episode of this show. I'm half-hoping that Ray and Nerese will find a way to have a love relationship. I'm pleased and a little skeptical when Price approaches the subject but disappointed when he abandons the idea. I'm still hoping to understand white-guilt or understand if this is even about that.

When I'm all excited and all engrossed with Ray Mitchell the crime victim, Detective Nerese Ammons, Ray's daughter Ruby, Carla the 'round-the-way girl from Ray's childhood, Danielle the girlfriend and everybody and the old neighborhood and even Ruby's collection of the old neighborhood stories and Ray's TV writing career and everything, and I'm wondering what could possibly be the conclusion of this crime. I'm a little let down when the conclusion appears to be someone's little explained need to seek approval. I just need more reason why.